Pokémon Go datamine uncovers new, unreleased Pokémon assets

A Pokémon Go dataminer has found models of unreleased Pokémon inside the game’s latest update. These assets belong to two of players’ most anticipated monsters — leading some to speculate that Niantic will soon make them obtainable.

ZeChrales, a member of the Pokémon Go community who regularly dumps assets on their GitHub page, worked through the game’s latest version and hit on fully-rendered models of Ho-Oh and Celebi. These are two of the remaining second-gen Pokémon as of yet unobtainable in the mobile title, and the only legendary monsters from that generation that players can’t yet capture.

Niantic via Imgur

Talk of Pokémon Gold cover star Ho-Oh’s reveal has swirled since Lugia, its Pokémon Silver counterpart, debuted in Pokémon Go back in July. Speculation points toward the legendary’s introduction coming as part of a seasonal event later this fall — perhaps around Thanksgiving time.

Of course, that remains pure speculation. But now that Niantic has developed and embedded models of both Ho-Oh and the even more rare Celebi into Pokémon Go, it’s fair to expect that they’ll appear in-game sooner than later. (There’s even a special shiny version of Ho-Oh tucked into the Pokémon Go version update’s assets.)

Still left unseen from the second generation Pokémon, Celebi and Ho-Oh aside, are Delibird and Smeargle. These aren’t legendary or mythical monsters, making their continued exclusion a bit ... odd. But we’re sure Niantic will tie their debuts to some special promotion eventually.

We’ve reached out to the developer for details on Ho-Oh and Celebi’s potential introduction and will update accordingly.